


Not the Same

by Dawnwind



Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Episode related: Crying child, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-22
Updated: 2019-08-22
Packaged: 2020-09-24 03:57:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20351998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnwind/pseuds/Dawnwind
Summary: Starsky is deeply affected by Janet Mayer's treatment of her son, Guy. Can he tell Hutch why?





	Not the Same

Not the Same  
By Dawnwind

Was this how it looked like from the other side? 

He shuddered, reining in his emotions. He couldn’t lose it, not during a case. He’d tried so hard to repress the memories.

He hadn’t looked like Guy, had he? His childhood had been different. He’d told Hutch he was accustomed to seeing dead bodies, beatings, but this tore at his soul. He’d convinced himself that all fathers did this. 

“Don’t discuss dirty laundry, Davey,” his mother used to say.

Hutch had said, “He thinks this is normal.”

It wasn’t. After his father had died, he’d learned the truth. Then tried to forget the ugliness, preserving only good memories. Ben Starsky had been a loving man, maintaining control and family order. 

Should he tell Hutch? How? What words did he use?

Abuse wasn’t correct. He’d never been abused.

Discipline, that was what his father had always said. Strict discipline taught a child to obey.

Problem was, Davey hadn’t managed obedience. He’d tried, but his own nature betrayed him. Rebellious, he was labeled. Impetuous. Incorrigible.

Nights spent in the narrow dark closet without supper, anticipating the morning discipline before school. Always five swats from his father’s belt on the back of his upper thighs. Impossible to sit still at his desk in class because of the pain.

Which got him in trouble, perpetuating the cycle. The principal would frown sternly as he called Davey’s father.

He remembered his mother, her dark hair hanging around her face, an older Vikki, clothed in identical, ancient shame. “Listen to your father, “ she’d plead. 

Huddled in the dark closet, waiting for the dawn, Davey had heard his father mete out discipline on his mother. It’s what husbands did.

He would tell Hutch when Guy and Vikki were safe.

Hutch would listen, without judgment, only love.


End file.
